Wednesday, February 17, 2010

To Moses

Dear Moses, I want you to know that we love you. We so wanted to adopt you and call you ours but God had other plans. My heart is broken over this, and I find it hard to say goodbye, even when we know very clearly it is the right thing to do. I don't know why there are so many hard things in this world. Why your mama had to die giving birth to you, or why your papa and family can't take care of you now. I don't know why, and I don't have the answers. I will pray for you always, little boy. I will pray that you know the love and care of our God who has a love for you that is beyond comprehension and so much bigger than ours could ever be. I will pray that there will be people who come into your life that love you and teach you about God and His love for you. It is because of this loving God that I have the courage and faith to say goodbye. Know you are precious beyond words and loved. I love this picture of you and me because it is the first time I met you, you were sick with a fever, but you held onto my finger so tightly the entire time we visited you. I'm sorry, buddy, and I hope for you a life of love and joy.

New Here?

We are an American family living in Mwanza, Tanzania after 2 years of life in the States. Michael is a country director for an NGO which serves school children. Holly is a pediatric nurse practitioner. Before our time in the States, we lived in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo for 4 1/2 years. We have four little girls who are 7, 5, and four year old twins. Back in DRC, we started a small charity called Reeds of Hope. Originally we started it to support the small baby home where our girls spent the first 5 months of their lives. Since that time, we have grown and changed in our mission and focus. Now we are working hard to transition to a model of family support, reunification, and alternative care.

Please do not use any photos on this blog without permission. All photos are ones taken by the author of this blog and not for use elsewhere without permission. Thank you.

Header photo on far left is used with permission from Channel Initiative and is from eastern DRC. Photo on right is from Mwanza, Tanzania.